The new season of Ryan Murphy's "American Horror Story" has welcomed an action star into its freaky fray. "The Shield" star, Michael Chiklis, is making his return to television by playing a father on "American Horror Story: Freak Show," Entertainment Weekly said.

The news was announced during the final night of the 2014 Paleyfest. EW said that Chiklis is the newest addition to Murphy's actor throve, as he is known to use the same actors for different stories of his horror series franchise. "Horror Story" regulars Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Basset and Frances Conroy were already confirmed to join in the fourth season, along with Jamie Brewer and Gabourey Sidibe, The Hollywood Reporter said.

The fourth season of "AHS" will be featuring the 1950s era and will have fan-favorite Jessica Lange portray the lead role as a German expatriate who is having difficulties keeping her freak show business afloat. EW said Chiklis will be Bates' character's ex-husband and Peters' character's father, IGN said. Both characters of Bates and Peters are part of Lange's character's performers.

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THR said Murphy has long been pursuing Chiklis since his memorable gigs in CBS' "Vegas" and ABC's "No Ordinary Family". Both of the shows were canceled after only one season. However, Chiklis' earlier show "The Shield" has put his name on the map, and obviously Murphy's radar, and had won him an Emmy and a Golden Globe win.

If there's any indication that Chiklis will be performing some hard action in the fourth "American Horror Story" season, the actor could easily fill in considering his performances in all "Fantastic Four" features, THR said.

Murphy revealed in Paleyfest that aside from Chiklis, the producers are still currently talking with Denis O'Hare and Emma Roberts to return for the show's fourth season. Chiklis also attended the panel, to the surprise of the audience, and had expressed his excitement and nervousness with his participation in the much-anticipated television show.